


Parallel

by ravensurana



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Vignette, introspection without plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:47:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26946184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravensurana/pseuds/ravensurana
Summary: Amaya takes a moment, after the battle, to think about all she's lost... and all she may yet gain.
Relationships: Amaya/Janai (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 60





	Parallel

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Hands](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22516939) by [ravensurana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravensurana/pseuds/ravensurana). 



> Technically a part of Take Me By The Hand, takes place post-Hands

"Understood, General. We'll begin coordinating with the elven forces at once."

Aanya's commander bowed, then took their leave of Amaya, heading back down the Storm Spire's stairs. Amaya took the chance to settle onto the ground, stretching her aching legs. 

She'd been standing for hours. Ever since the battlefield had been cleared and the Dragon Queen had woken. The battle had been easier, in a way, she thought. With so much action, there'd been no time to notice the aches and pains accumulating from every blow. Adrenaline coursing through her system to dull her awareness. But now, in the fragile calm of a late Xadian afternoon, everything was beginning to catch up with her.

Not just the physical pain, either.

She'd positioned herself here, at the landing at the top of the stairs, to get a better view of everything surrounding the Spire. Supplicants climbing the stairs toward her. The battlefield far below. The vast desert and peaked mountains in the distance, elves making their way to the Spire as news spread of Zubeia's revival, Azymondias's return. There was still no sign of Viren, no sign of Claudia, but she'd already sent out patrols to search for them both.

Now, though, her tired gaze caught—and held—on one thing in particular.

The Thunderfall.

_Avizandum._

She hadn't even known his name until yesterday, but she'd keenly felt his presence in her life. Every time she crossed the Breach, she'd felt the hair on the back of her neck rise with the knowledge that he lurked there, just out of sight. Waiting for the humans to step out of line again, so he could strike them back down.

She'd wanted him gone. Dead, even. But she'd never expected it to actually happen.

And she'd definitely never expected Harrow—and Viren—to be the ones to bring it about.

Amaya let out a long breath, unable to tear her eyes from the frozen scene below her. The face that had haunted her dreams, trapped forever in desperate fear for the ones he'd loved.

It didn't feel like a victory, to see him so.

It was a small mercy, at least, that she couldn't see Avizandum's right side from this angle. Couldn't see the spear jutting from beneath his wing, held eternally in place. She'd gone cold upon seeing it during their approach—a symbol of hate forged from a familiar spear, one whose power she'd felt for herself on countless occasions. Intense spars in the palace courtyard, guards cheering them both on and making surreptitious bets on the sidelines.

Sarai had been the only one who could ever land a hit on Amaya. Until the night when everything had gone so, so wrong.

Amaya held few regrets in her life. She learned from failures, pushing herself ever harder. But the one regret she would always hold was that she hadn't been there when her sister fell. Could she have done anything? Could she have taken the blow instead? Sarai had been an incredible queen, working with Harrow to lead Katolis into an age of prosperity and peace. How much more could she have done, if only she'd had the chance?

Even though Amaya hadn't seen Sarai fall, it had been all she'd dreamed of for weeks.

And now, her heart bled to see another in that same position.

She glanced down into the camp at the base of the Spire, as though she could pick one tiny figure out from another. A flash of red hair, the gleam of sunlight on golden maille.

There'd been no one there for Amaya after Sarai's death. Her physical wounds had been tended by impersonal healers, the raw emotional wounds hidden away under a hard, cold mask. Festering in the dark. She'd taken command of the fortress at the Breach half out of a sense of revenge, half because she couldn't face the thought of that empty palace courtyard. She'd never felt so alone. Unable to face the king who had led the mission, the children who might never understand why their mother hadn't come home to them.

Amaya had softened, over the years. Found herself adopting siblings in Corvus and Gren. Even so, her first instinct after the battle today had been to retreat into herself, to hide her pains. To prove herself strong, no matter what happened to her. No one would ever know her as Sarai had. It was better not to try.

And yet....

And yet, when Janai had offered aid, Amaya had found herself accepting without a second thought.

Her gloved fingers brushed against the scar on her cheek, then traced the bandages wrapped about her ribs. What a difference it made, just to have someone who cared for her. Who cared what happened to her. An oasis found unexpectedly in the desert, a breath of fresh air free from the oppressive heat of the Breach. And she found herself hoping that Janai might see her in much the same way, one solid thing to hold onto in a world gone sideways and wrong.

After isolating herself for so long, Amaya was still reluctant to bring new people into her life. But she couldn't deny how light she felt whenever Janai looked at her, with a smile that brought a glow to her face, a softness so unexpected from the hard golden city of the Sunfire elves.

And as Janai had tended her cracked ribs, Amaya had realized that Janai had already found her way into Amaya's heart. That the bond of their shared grief had already opened Amaya's old wounds to the light, allowing them to begin to heal. Soothing years of old pain. Allowing her, in turn, to be there for Janai. To help her through the challenges which lay ahead, challenges which Amaya knew far too well.

The past was behind them. The future was just beginning.

And Amaya swore, as she caught sight of an elven soldier climbing the Spire's stairs, that she would break the cycle of heartbreak. She had been alone after this war took her sister. But if Amaya had any say, the same would not be true for Janai.

If Janai wished it, the two of them would build a new future.

Together.


End file.
